WIZZIT- Changing the way payments are made.........Can we integrate it with microfinance........
doob...@gmail.com
WIZZIT Life is now easier for Andile Mbatha, who owns a hair salon in
Soweto, Johannesburg. Gone are his days of trekking to his bank, which
could take two hours by minibus, to send money to relatives. Nor does
he keep piles of cash in his salon any more. Last year, he opened a
bank account with WIZZIT, an innovative provider of financial
services. He now sends money to his sister in Cape Town whenever he
wants, from wherever he wants, using a simple menu on his mobile
phone. Half his customers no longer pay cash for their haircuts. They
use their phones to move money from their accounts to his, in a few
seconds.
WIZZIT targets the 16 million South Africans who lack or have
difficulty accessing formal banking services. Many WIZZIT customers
are indeed poor, but they are not among South Africa's poorest people.
They tend to have more income and assets and be more financially and
technologically sophisticated than other low-income South Africans,
having skipped landlines and jumped to mobiles.
WIZZIT is a startup mobile banking provider that offers a transaction
banking account accessible via mobile phone and debit card. The
company operates as a division of the South African Bank of Athens.
WIZZIT targets the 16 million people in South Africa (48 percent of
adults) who are unbanked or who have difficulty accessing formal
financial services. Since its launch in December 2004, WIZZIT has
acquired more than 50,000 customers. WIZZIT bills itself as a "virtual
bank" and has no branches of its own. Customers can use their mobile
phone to make person-to-person payments, transfer money, purchase
prepaid electricity, and buy airtime for a prepaid mobile phone
subscription.
WIZZIT also gives customers a Maestro branded debit card with which
they can make purchases and get cash back at retail outlets and
withdraw money at any South African ATM. Customers can also make cash
deposits at several banking institutes. WIZZIT uses no mass media
advertising, such as TV commercials. Instead, it markets its services
through more than 2,000 "WIZZ Kids," who are typically young
individuals drawn from the lower income population, which WIZZIT views
as its core market. WIZZ Kids educate potential customers about WIZZIT
and earn a commission for each new customer. For new users, signing up
is as easy as keying one's national identification number into the
mobile phone.
WIZZIT provides customer support via a call center that is available
15 hours per day in the 11 official languages spoken in South Africa.
Other similar mobile banking services are available, such as MTN
Banking which is a joint venture between MTN, the second largest
cellular provider and FNB, on e of the 4 major banks in South Africa.
These mobile banking services make banking easier and more accessible,
and the government will also be able to use the accounts to deposit
millions of dollars in monthly pensions and grants, helping the
elderly receive needed funds without long walks to disbursement
centers.
WIZZIT uses existing cellular technology and phones, there is no need
to upgrade or roll out other technologies like Wi-Max or 3G.
Highlights of our proposed program -
Following the user centered process for development [cut and paste my
basic user centered process here] the final model that can be
replicated across the nation can also eventually be transferred back
to other emerging nations in the continents of Africa, South America
and Asia including China.
These same models could conceivably be upgraded and proposed for
developed markets of North America, Europe and Australia as well as
the technologically advanced nations such as S. Korea, Japan or
Singapore.
By observing already validated models and adapting them to the local
conditions, culture and society, there will be a shorter learning
curve - this implies that even one application that could successfully
be rolled out would demonstrate its viability within a short time
without major infrastructural requirements.
Eventually this can be expanded to healthcare, information, other
commercial applications that could form the seed of a truly mobile and
wireless internet work - one that bridges the digital divide but on a
platform that has already managed to change the lives of those who use
it as it stands now. Jeevanlal Patodia, the pavement vegetablewallah
who owns a top of the line Nokia phone and was interviewed by
BusinessWeek or your local paanwallah who takes orders at night on
his, would only agree.
What do we need to make this happen? We need the brainpower and the
technological expertise to develop the applications, to solve the
problem based on the technology and software ALREADY in place in
India. As an integrated innovation, design, research and strategy
consultancy with local offices in Pretoria, Rio de Janeiro, Bangalore,
Delhi, New York, Vancouver and San Francisco, we can envision the way
the process and system would work in human terms - what we need is
your globally renowned capability to manifest our vision in tangible
terms on the cellular networks accessible to any mobile phone owner
regardless of his bank balance.
WIZZIT..
Siva Prasad Cotipalli
Specific to India, many startups are emerging in the mobile payments space. However something like Wizzit is really the need of the hour. Some startups are
1. www.mchek.com
2. www.ngpay.com
3. www.paymate.co.in
4. www.obopay.com
5. http://www.atomtech.in/
If any members has other information, please share the same.
Thanks
Siva
Siva Prasad,
+91-99453 88660
http://shivp.wordpress.com
skype: siva.cotipalli